Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target to $251.00

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its target price reduced by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $255.00 to $251.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 15.87% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $261.30.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $216.63 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $245.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $246.29. MarketAxess has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a PEG ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.03.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 0.3% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,953,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 1,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S.